Plans to renovate Peterborough community centre building in ‘poor state of repair’
The former youth centre has been unused for a number of years
Plans have been submitted to Peterborough City Council to renovate an unused community centre building in Werrington.
The property, known as The Lighthouse Centre, is one of three buildings which make up Werrington Parish Village Centre, all owned by the parish church.
It has previously been used as a community and youth centre. However, the building has remained unused by the neighbourhood for a number of years due to the poor state of repair it is currently in, according to the church.
Werrington Parish Church aims to carry out a full refurbishment of the property including minor interior remodelling works, as well as improvements to the external areas to provide adequate disabled access to the facility.
External works would include improved access to the main entrance and garage, new windows and doors, timber-effect cladding, a new canopy at the front and solar panels on the roof.
Inside, the building would have a new accessible toilet, a new kitchen with store in place of the existing games room, new one-to-one spaces, refurbished main hall and rooms, a storage room, quiet area, and new unisex toilets with a baby changing room.
The other two properties, the village hall and the scouts/guides building, share the 19 car parking spaces at the front.
In the planning application, Peter Smith Associates on behalf of Werrington Parish Church, wrote: “The proposed works will not impact the surrounding area or any of the closest listed buildings.
“The external works proposed are limited and are considered to improve the front elevation, which is currently in a poor state of repair due to the damaged main and store doors.
“There is only a small section of the front elevation visible from the main street scene which consists of the store doors, and due to these requiring refurbishment, they are having a negative impact on the appearance of the site at present.
“The proposal will have either no impact or a positive impact on the character, setting and historic assets surrounding the site.”
The application was validated by the city council on January 9 and will be decided on by planners at a later date.